Publications by authors named "Higashino T"

Objective: The impact of suture materials on surgical site infections (SSIs) has been well documented in various surgical fields; however, it has not been thoroughly examined in oral oncological surgery with free-flap reconstruction. This study aimed to evaluate the incidence of oral SSIs associated with the use of monofilament and braided sutures for flap fixation.

Methods: A retrospective chart review of patients who underwent oral oncological resection with free-flap reconstruction was conducted between May 2020 and April 2024.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: This multi-institutional observational study aimed to assess the incidence, severity, and impact of radiotherapy-related late toxicities of the cervical skin and soft tissue in head and neck cancer patients. We also explored patient interest in fat grafting as a potential treatment for skin and soft tissue sequelae.

Methods: This study was conducted across 19 institutions in Japan.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose Adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) following limb-sparing surgery with endoprosthesis is the gold standard treatment for osteosarcoma (OS). However, AC can impair wound healing, leading to endoprosthesis exposure, making the decision to continue or pause AC important. We propose standard guidelines for managing this situation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Previous computed tomography studies have reported that the superior mesenteric artery is often located ventrally to the superior mesenteric vein; however, the precise location of the peripheral jejunal arteriovenous system is unknown. This study investigated the arteriovenous positioning of the free jejunal flaps during reconstructive surgery.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 78 patients who underwent free jejunal flap reconstruction between June 2021 and May 2023.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Porphyrin dyes with extended structures show promise as efficient sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), but their performance is hindered by aggregation and charge recombination issues.
  • Adding umbrella-shaped -terphenyl groups to these dyes can reduce these problems, enabling better performance in DSSCs.
  • The study achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 12.3% with a co-sensitized DSSC, the highest reported for such dyes, validating the effectiveness of the terphenyl group design in enhancing solar cell efficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We have reported that upon visible light irradiation, ferrocene-porphyrin-[60]fullerene triad molecules yield long-lived charge-separated states, enabling the control of the plasma membrane potential ( ) in living cells. These previous studies indicated that the localization of the triad molecules in a specific intra-membrane orientation and the suppression of the photodynamic actions of the [60]fullerene (C) moiety are likely important to achieve fast and safe control of , respectively. In this study, by mimicking our previous system of triad molecules and living cells, we report a simplified model system with a cationic C derivative (catC) and a liposome with embedded 1-pyrenebutyric acid (PyBA) to demonstrate that the addition of PyBA was important to achieve fast and safer control of .

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Diuretics, including thiazides and thiazide-like drugs, are commonly recommended for treating hypertension, though their precise mechanism of action is not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the pharmacological effects of trichloromethiazide (TCM) in malignant stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (M-SHRSP).

Methods: M-SHRSPs were treated with varying doses of TCM.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Acral peeling skin syndrome (APSS; MIM 609796) is a rare genodermatosis characterized by painless focal cutaneous exfoliation of the dorsal hands and feet, typically displaying autosomal recessive inheritance. While cases associated with a founder mutation in TGM5 are relatively common in European Caucasian populations, no APSS cases have been reported from Japan or other East Asian countries. In contrast, Nagashima-type palmoplantar keratosis (NPPK; MIM 615598), caused by variants in SERPINB7, is relatively common in East Asia due to founder mutations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease with an unknown pathogenesis. It has been reported that mutations in the gene for Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) cause familial ALS. Mutant SOD1 undergoes aggregation and forms amyloid more easily, and SOD1-immunopositive inclusions have been observed in the spinal cords of ALS patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To provide diverse in-home services like elderly care, versatile activity recognition technology is essential. Radio-based methods, including WiFi CSI, RFID, and backscatter communication, are preferred due to their minimal privacy intrusion, reduced physical burden, and low maintenance costs. However, these methods face challenges, including environmental dependence, proximity limitations between the device and the user, and untested accuracy amidst various radio obstacles such as furniture, appliances, walls, and other radio waves.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * This study examined two reconstruction techniques using free jejunal transfer in five patients, who had varying types of cancer and defect sizes, with either a simple incision or a two-segment method utilized for the reconstruction.
  • * Results showed successful swallowing functions for most patients post-surgery, with some able to resume oral feeding and others needing tube feeding, indicating that both reconstruction methods can be effective in this complex surgical context.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Woolly hair (WH) is a hair shaft anomaly characterized by tightly curled hair that typically stops growing at a few inches. Autosomal recessive WH (ARWH; OMIM no. 278150/604379/616760) has been reported to be caused by variants in genes coding lysophosphatidic acid receptor 6 (), lipase H (), or keratin 25 ().

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Although vascularized bone graft (VBG) transfer is the current standard for mandibular reconstruction, reconstruction with a mandibular reconstruction plate (MRP) and with a soft-tissue flap (STF) alone remain crucial options for patients with poor general conditions. However, objective aesthetic outcome evaluations for these methods are limited.

Methods: In a retrospective analysis of 65 patients (VBG, 33; MRP, 19; and STF, 13), mandibular asymmetry value was calculated for each patient's photograph using facial recognition AI, with a higher value indicating worse asymmetry.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Enhanced recovery after surgery programs are designed to decrease surgery-related invasiveness and improve recovery, with early enteral nutrition and mobilization being key elements, though their safety in head and neck surgery remains uncertain.
  • A retrospective study comparing conventional and early management methods found that early management significantly reduced major complications and wound infections in patients undergoing head and neck surgery with free tissue transfer.
  • While the early management group showed slightly lower compliance rates compared to the conventional group, the study concluded that early management is a safe and effective approach to enhance postoperative recovery in this surgical context.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • There is a rising need for determining the structure of small crystals, and while three-dimensional electron diffraction (3D ED) is a method to do so, it has limitations related to crystal thickness and data quality.* -
  • This study highlights the use of serial X-ray crystallography (SX) with X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) to analyze small and thin crystals, improving data collection efficiency through 2D scanning and rotation.* -
  • The findings show that SX provides superior data quality for small organic crystals and can effectively handle challenging targets, making XFEL crystallography a valuable technique for structure studies.*
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Salvage surgery is a therapeutic option for recurrent or residual esophageal cancer after definitive chemoradiation therapy. This report aimed to describe the procedure of reconstruction after salvage esophagectomy involving great vessel resection using prosthetic grafts, a pectoralis major muscle (PM) flap, and free jejunal transfer, if required. To the best of our knowledge, no previous report has described the reconstruction of the defect after combined esophageal and great vessel resection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background:  While free jejunum transfer (FJT) following total pharyngo-laryngo-esophagectomy (TPLE) is a reliable reconstruction technique, the jejunum flap is viewed as more susceptible to ischemia than a standard free flap. Animal studies have indicated that the jejunum can tolerate ischemia for as little as 2 to 3 hours. Clinical studies also reported increased complications after the FJT with more than 3 hours of ischemia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Some rodlike organic molecules exhibit exceptionally high layered crystallinity when composed of a link between π-conjugated backbone (head) and alkyl chain (tail). These molecules are aligned side-by-side unidirectionally to form self-organized polar monomolecular layers, providing promising 2D materials and devices. However, their interlayer stacking arrangements have never been tunable, preventing the unidirectional arrangements of molecules in whole crystals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), flat planar dyes (e. g., highly light-harvesting porphyrins and corroles) with multiple anchoring groups are known to adopt a horizontal orientation on TiO through the multiple binding to TiO.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Tracheal necrosis is a serious complication that can occur after total pharyngolarynjectomy (TPL), and the risk factors for this condition without the addition of esophagectomy are not well understood.
  • A study analyzed data from 395 patients who underwent TPL to identify risk factors using advanced machine learning and traditional statistical methods.
  • The findings revealed that tracheal necrosis occurred in 6.3% of patients, with a history of radiotherapy being the strongest predictor; the random forest model achieved high accuracy in predicting this complication, suggesting the need for careful management in at-risk patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Free jejunum transfer is one of the standard procedures for restoring oral intake after total pharyngo-laryngo-esophagectomy. Flap loss leading to a second free jejunum transfer rarely occurs. This study investigated the impact of a second free jejunum transfer on post-operative oral intake.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Several reporting systems have been proposed for providing standardized language and diagnostic categories aiming for expressing the likelihood that lung abnormalities on CT images represent COVID-19. We developed a machine learning (ML)-based CT texture analysis software for simple triage based on the RSNA Expert Consensus Statement system. The purpose of this study was to conduct a multi-center and multi-reader study to determine the capability of ML-based computer-aided simple triage (CAST) software based on RSNA expert consensus statements for diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Previous research finds that natural environments and exercise enhance creativity. In this within-subjects design study, we examined the influence of outdoor exercise that combined a natural environment with exercise on creativity compared to an indoor exercise control condition by analyzing cognitive activities related to creativity. The participants performed an Alternative Uses Test (AUT), in which ordinary objects are presented to the participants (e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF